The Seniors of the Forest 293 
covered by the seed-coat. From three to five of 
these little flasks are prepared for pollen in each 
of the pine-ovules. 
At the season when the winds are freighted with 
the pollen of the cone-bearers the scales of the 
pistillate flower draw apart, so that the precious 
dust can slip down between them to the ovule. 
And just at this stage of affairs a tiny drop of 
fluid exudes from the opening in the ovule’s coat. 
The golden grains brought by the breezes are 
caught and held in this, and as the fluid evap- 
orates, or is absorbed, they are gradually drawn 
down to the ovule’s surface. 
The ripe pollen-grain of the pine is not a mere 
bag of jelly, as is the pollen-grain of the crocus. 
It has two compartments or ‘‘cells’’ like the 
smaller spore of the selaginella. One of these is 
merely vegetative, and one, a little later, develops 
into the pollen-tube. The tube put forth by the 
crocus pollen-grain contains one globule of vitaliz- 
ing protoplasm, the ‘‘ generative cell.’’ But the 
perfected pollen-tube of the pine contains two gen- 
erative cells. 
The tube penetrates the tissue of the ovule for 
a very short distance, and then there is a pause, 
while the little archegonia down below are coming 
